Saint Louis Clean Cities Gains $162,454 for Diesel Emissions Reduction to Replace School Buses in Jefferson County, Mo.
|
 |
Category: AirType: News
Source: EPA
Date: Friday, March 20th, 2015
(Lenexa, Kan., March 20, 2015) - The non-profit organization Saint Louis Clean Cities has been awarded $162,454 to replace one bus from the Jefferson R-VII School District in Festus, Mo., and 5 buses from the DeSoto Public School District No. 73 in DeSoto, Mo. The new buses purchased under this grant will have EPA-certified engines meeting 2013 standards.
Nationwide, E.P.A. awarded a total of $8 million for 21 clean diesel plans to reduce emissions from the nation's existing fleet of diesel engines. This backing is part of EPA's Diesel Emissions Reduction Plan (DERA) Fiscal Year 2014 allocation which will include engine replacements, repowers, and idle reduction technologies to clean up a variety of older diesel engines.
"Supporting clean diesel plans like these is one way E.P.A. helps make a visible difference in communities across the country," said Janet McCabe, acting Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. "Cleaner trucks, buses, boats and heavy equipment keep local economies working and thriving while better protecting the health of neighborhoods."
E.P.A. allocated $8 million in backing to the DERA national competitive grant Plan and received 50 applications requesting in excess of $32 million.
Diesel engines are efficient but emit air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NO
X) and particulate matter (PM). These pollutants are linked to a range of serious health problems including asthma, lung and heart disease, other respiratory ailments, and even premature death. Since the start of the DERA Plan in 2008, E.P.A. has awarded over 700 grants across the U.S. in 600 communities. Many of these plans fund cleaner diesel engines that operate in economically disadvantaged communities whose residents suffer from higher-than-average instances of asthma, heart, and lung disease.
There are currently no comments for this story. Be the first to
add a comment!
Click here to add a comment about this story.
